Users say their Apple Watch can predict if they are about to get sick

Apple Watch Series 10 is the latest in the Apple Watch series. Not only does it make a great addition to the iPhone ecosystem, but it’s also one of the best smartwatches for health monitoring. Apple has made some important additions over the years with watchOS on Apple Watches, one of which is the Vitals app that announced the latest release of watchOS 11. The update has been available for a few weeks. In the stable sector, users are now giving evidence of the use of the app, noting how it highlighted the changes in the body before the illness.

Reddit user dalethomas81 noted how the Vitals app on their Apple Watch showed three nights of higher-than-normal wrist temperatures overnight. This vision turned out to be prophetic, as the user noted that they later became ill.

Many others joined the Reddit thread. User RCG21 and Special_Step_1717 agreed with the warning, noting that their Apple Watch Series 9 had already detected that something was wrong before they could feel the sickness coming.

However, Redditor devgeniu had a different experience. While the Apple Watch showed signs of cold, it didn’t do so days before. This was attributed to the difference in pain tolerance, and some users may not notice that they are sick enough for a few days.

The Vitals app can be accessed through the Home Screen (ie, the Start app) on the Apple Watch and through the Health app on the iPhone. The app creates normal values ​​for each of your health metrics (heart rate, breathing rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen and sleep time), which are collected when you sleep more than a week. If many of your health metrics are out of your normal range, you get a notification along with the context of potentially relevant information – such as medications, changes in conditions, or illness, for example. If you don’t see any, that’s okay, because it means your body’s vitals are within their normal range.

Note that blood oxygen measurement is not currently available on Apple Watches sold in the US after January 18, 2024, due to a legal dispute with Fields. Wrist temperature measurements were introduced with the Apple Watch Series 8, so older smartwatches cannot measure this metric. Apple also cautions that the measurements in the Vitals app are not intended for medical use.

Regardless, this is a great example of the benefits of health technology built into our modern watches. Getting a head start a day or two before you get sick can help you plan your time off better and prepare in advance for adequate help. Although that part is not something you should rely on blindly, it can still serve as an early warning system, helping you through your illness and recovery.

What do you think about this feature on Apple Watch? Have you received a sickness alert on your smartwatch? Let us know in the comments below!